The long non-coding RNA LINC00460 predicts the prognosis and promotes the proliferation and migration of cells in bladder urothelial carcinoma

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) may serve an important role in cancer development and may also be suitable for use as prognostic biomarkers. At present, the role of lncRNAs in bladder cancer remains unclear. The present study examined the potential involvement of lncRNA LINC00460 in bladder urothelial carcinoma using data from The Caner Genome Atlas (TCGA) and cell line experiments. The results indicated that LINC00460 expression levels were increased in bladder urothelial carcinoma tissues and bladder cancer 5637 and T24 cell lines compared with corresponding normal controls (P<0.05). TCGA data indicated that LINC00460 expression was negatively correlated with a positive prognosis in patients with bladder urothelial carcinoma (P<0.05). Consistently, the downregulation of LINC00460 with short hairpin RNA significantly suppressed 5637 and T24 cell proliferation and migration. Therefore, it was suggested that strategies that target LINC00460 may be developed as novel therapeutic approaches for the treatment of bladder cancer. In addition, the expression level of androgen receptor (AR) was downregulated in bladder urothelial carcinoma tissues and exhibited a negative correlation with the expression level of LINC00460 (r=−0.43; P<0.0001), based on the data from TCGA. We hypothesized that LINC00460 may serve an oncogenic role by regulating the expression of AR.